A380 "engine problems"

Nov 04, 2010 87 Replies

Maybe not a leak so much as a bypass and resulting unfed bearing, and subsequent catastrophic failure mode that happens quicker than the temp change can be or gets sensed.

Then, the sensors would pick up nothing if each bearing is not monitored (which I would do).

There are many places oil can leak, inside and outside the engine, and there have been cases where oil loss has gone unnoticed in flight. Turbine bearing seal failure blows oil out the exhaust with barely detectable increase in smoke and no measurable effect on temperature. Bearing failure happens fast once lube spray (cooling!) is lost; possibly faster that pilot reaction to an alarm. Automatic shutdowns risk shutting down an engine for a sensor failure, and sometimes it could be better to continue running a damaged engine and risk total engine failure than to certainly crash.

But indeed something was screwed up, the details will be figured out and the problem fixed. Not unusual with a new engine design.

The Trent series is not exactly new, though the model in question is.

I wonder how well a Hydrogen/Oxygen turbine would operate.

The turbopumps in many NASA rockets do exactly that.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." (Richard Feynman)

That is quite a different engine altogether, however, and the thrust is all created in the thrust nozzle area.

Same fuel though. You came close.

Sending current through bearings wrecks 'em, quickly! (It makes a kind of a micro electro-discharge machine, for bearings.)

-- Cheers, James Arthur

I believe the Trent 900 is the first with triple-concentric shafts driven by a 3-speed turbine. Previous engines has only two stages.

Clifford Heath.

The 700 has three stages.

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